Combat in Mass Effect 3 is going to be a "lot more punishing" than in Mass Effect 2, and it's all down to revamped enemy AI.

In an interview with Xbox World 360 (via CVG), BioWare gameplay designer Corey Gaspur emphasised the changes. "Enemies like the Cerberus Troopers are elites," he said, "they can do everything that Shepard can do now as well, so you're fighting a force that's a lot more intelligent this time around, and a lot more punishing."

"The game is just intense even when you play it on Normal," Gaspur added.

Fellow gameplay designer Christina Norman also said that the enemy becomes more tactically aware on higher difficulty settings. "In Mass Effect 3 it's not just that the game is harder on Insanity, it's that this creature actually behaves differently on higher difficulty levels."

"On those harder difficulty levels we can make the enemies exhibit specific behaviours more often, or even give them new behaviours that we think will work for a harder difficulty level, but which won't work for an easier one."

Why make these changes, though? "Well, we want to make it so that when the player's fighting in the moment they feel like they have more options than just aiming, shooting and using powers," said Norman.

&auot;We really want to make mobility a factor - like, 'am I in the right position on the battlefield? Where are my enemies? How am I going to get from point A to point B? How are they going to get from point A to point B?' So the player is never thinking, 'I'm walking into this safe place with great cover, I'll stay there and fight' but more 'how am I going to move through the battlefield as the enemies move through the battlefield against me?'"

Mass Effect executive producer Casey Hudson said in April that Mass Effect 3 will be harder than Mass Effect 2.

BioWare has also recently said it is debating whether to show Tali's face in Mass Effect 3.